Education Assistance - Folk Artist

What is Education Assistance for folk artists in Tamil Nadu?

Education Assistance - Folk Artist is a welfare benefit of the Tamil Nadu Folk Artistes Welfare Board, which functions under the Department of Art and Culture, Government of Tamil Nadu. The Board pays an annual education grant for the sons and daughters of registered folk artistes, from school level right through to postgraduate professional courses.

Folk performance in Tamil Nadu: therukoothu, villupattu, karagattam, oyilattam, parai, silambattam, poikkal kudhirai, bow song, puppetry; is largely seasonal and unsalaried. A performer may earn well during the temple festival months and almost nothing for the rest of the year. The education assistance exists so that a lean season does not force a child out of school or out of a professional course. The Board covers seven kinds of assistance in all: spectacles, education, marriage, childbirth and miscarriage, natural death and funeral expenses, and accidental death.

According to the Department of Art and Culture, the Board has enrolled 50,882 folk artistes, and in the year covered by its latest policy note it distributed Rs 236.86 lakh to 9,833 members, of which Rs 59.04 lakh went to 4,091 students under the education component.

How much education assistance is paid?

The rates published by the Department of Art and Culture are fixed by course, and the hostel rate is higher because it covers boarding:

The assistance is annual, claimed for the academic year in which the student is studying, and is limited to two children of the member.

Who is eligible for Education Assistance - Folk Artist?

You can claim if:

• The parent is a folk artiste registered with the Tamil Nadu Folk Artistes Welfare Board, with the membership renewed and current.
• The registered artiste has no dues payable to the Board.
• The son or daughter is studying in a government or government-recognised institution in one of the classes or courses in the rate table above.
• The claim is for not more than two children of the member.

You are not eligible if:

• The parent is not registered with the Board, or the membership has lapsed. An unregistered folk performer cannot apply for this assistance until registration is completed and the Rs 100 fee paid.
• Both husband and wife are registered members and both try to claim. In that case only one of them is eligible for this assistance.
• The child is studying in an unrecognised institution.
• The claim is for a third or later child.
• The member has dues outstanding to the Board.

Board membership itself has an age condition: a person must have completed 18 years and not completed 60 years to be enrolled. Once enrolled, membership is renewed every two years for Rs 10.

What documents are required?

How to apply for folk artist education assistance

1. Confirm your Board membership is current. Renew at the Regional Art and Cultural Centre if the two-year renewal is due, paying the Rs 10 fee, and clear any dues, because the Board settles claims only for members with no dues payable.
2. Collect the bonafide certificate from the head of the school, college, polytechnic or ITI, showing the child's name, class or course, and the academic year. If the child is in a hostel, obtain a separate hostel certificate to claim the higher rate.
3. Obtain the previous year's mark sheet and a copy of the child's Aadhaar.
4. Fill the education assistance application form available at the Regional Art and Cultural Centre, entering your Board membership number, the child's details, the course, and the bank account into which the assistance should be paid.
5. Submit the application with all enclosures at the Regional Art and Cultural Centre of your district, or at the Directorate of Art and Culture, Chennai. Ask for a dated acknowledgement.
6. Follow up with the Assistant Director of the Regional Cultural Centre if the payment has not reached your account within the academic year.

How to register with the Tamil Nadu Folk Artistes Welfare Board

Registration comes before any welfare claim, so this is the first step for a family that is not yet enrolled:

1. Go to the Regional Art and Cultural Centre in your district, or the Directorate of Art and Culture in Chennai.
2. Carry proof of residence, age and family members, Aadhaar and ration card are accepted — along with three passport photographs and photographs of your performances.
3. Obtain and attach an artiste certificate from the Village Administrative Officer confirming that you practise a folk art.
4. Pay the Rs 100 registration fee and collect the membership identity card. Renewal is Rs 10 every two years and a duplicate card costs Rs 20.

How to check the status of an education assistance claim

There is no online tracker for Board welfare claims. Ask the Assistant Director at the Regional Art and Cultural Centre where the application was filed, quoting your membership number and the acknowledgement date. The Directorate of Art and Culture in Chennai is the next level. Because payments are released in batches against the year's allotment, a claim filed late in the financial year is often paid in the following year's batch rather than rejected.

Why claims get rejected, and how to fix them

• Lapsed membership. The most frequent single reason. Renew and re-file.
• Dues payable to the Board, which block settlement of any welfare claim.
• No bonafide certificate, or one that does not name the academic year.
• Wrong slab claimed, for example, a hostel rate claimed with no hostel certificate. The Board pays at the lower rate rather than rejecting outright.
• Third child claimed, when the limit is two children per member.
• Both spouses claiming where both are registered artistes; only one of them is eligible.
• Bank account name mismatch with Aadhaar, which stops the transfer.

Other Board benefits the same family can claim

A registered folk artiste's household can also claim, from the same Board: Rs 5,000 marriage assistance for the member or a son or daughter, allowed twice; Rs 6,000 for delivery of a child and Rs 3,000 for miscarriage, for women members, twice; Rs 1,500 for spectacles once in three years; Rs 25,000 for natural death and funeral expenses; and Rs 1,00,000 in the case of accidental death. Each of these is a separate application on the same membership.

Help and grievance route

• Assistant Director, Regional Art and Cultural Centre of your district, the first point of contact for registration, renewal and claims
• Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of Tamil Nadu, Chennai; artandculture.tn.gov.in
• Tamil Nadu Folk Artistes Welfare Board, for membership and welfare claims

Registration costs Rs 100 and renewal Rs 10; nothing else is payable. No agent is authorised to charge a fee for filing an education assistance claim.